Personally, I am coaching a team this season and I have been surprised how much time I put into planning a session, arriving early to practice to set up the field, communicating with parents and just generally thinking about the team. The commitment to coach a youth soccer team goes well beyond the practice and game times.

Making the life of a youth soccer coach a bit less stressful with the use of a Team Management App to ease the load is certainly something I recommend all teams consider.

Thanks to the suggestion of my team manager, my team is using a Team Management App. I had never used such an App in the past, so when he suggested we set the team up – I agreed simply because I knew it was something he wanted to use. I didn’t really understand the benefits.

I have found it to be a very valuable tool!

Team Management Apps are well named – they provide compete management of the team and become the communication hub!

Our practice and game schedules are kept up to date and easily accessible to everyone.

Our roster of players is complete with pictures of the players (if the parent uploads it) – a huge help to me at the start of the season as I was working to remember all the names and I am sure will be of help to the parents on the sidelines trying to learn all the names of the girls.

The parents’ names and contact information is right at my fingertips for easy communication and parents can indicate preferences for receiving alerts when I send an email or text.

I can quickly check the status of every player’s availability as I plan practice, and parents can message me when their child is sick.

Parents are able to group message one another. This group messaging was handy the other day when we added a new player to the team and her mom had a question about jersey sizes.

Now that I am using a Team Management App, I can’t imagine not using one in the future.

To heighten my newly found appreciation for Team Management Apps, my daughter’s team is using one this year as well! It’s super convenient for me, as a parent, to be able to constantly have her game schedule at my fingertips and not to have to worry about changing my personal calendar when one of her game times’ change!

There are a number of Team Management Apps available, I will mention the two I am familiar with. I welcome your feedback and opinions in the comment section about how and which Team Management Apps have worked for you.

FC Link(full disclosure, the Soccer Parenting Weekly Newsletter sponsor!) is a FREE to use Team Management App created exclusively for soccer. An important distinguishing feature here is FREE. You can create up to three teams at no charge on FC Link.

The team manager for the team I am coaching set my team up with TeamSnap – another popular Team Management App. While I have no complaints about TeamSnap, I didn’t realize you had to pay for each team that is registered. I was therefore a bit surprised when our team manager sent out an email requesting $10 from each parent to pay for the team registration on TeamSnap!

As the seasons are beginning, school is getting underway and calendars are filling up – I certainly suggest you consider a Team Management App for your team. It’s made a world of difference from an organizational standpoint for me as a coach, and parent.

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About Skye Eddy Bruce

Founder, SoccerParenting.com
Skye is a former All-American goalkeeper, professional player and collegiate coach. She holds her USSF “B” License and USSF National Goalkeeper License and is an active youth coach, soccer parent and coach educator.